Andrew Saul, a nutritionist and author from Rochester, wrote of swimming nude at Charlotte High School as late as 1970.
It recommended men swim nude and women wear suits 'of the simplest type.' Those guidelines remained until 1962.Īfter that, it was a matter of custom. In 1926, the American Public Health Association published the first guide for swimming pool management. Citing wool swimsuits as breeding grounds for bacteria, and their fibers as a danger to the pool’s filtration system, the organization required patrons to swim in the raw.
The practice appears rooted in the opening of the first indoor pool in the United States in 1885 at the Brooklyn YMCA, which was then for men only.